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On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has scored a 'hat-trick' with its victory in the Bengaluru civic polls after triumphs in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh civic polls earlier this month. In cricket, a hat-trick is when a bowler gets three batsmen out in three consecutive balls. In politics, the BJP achieved it by three consecutive civic poll victories.
But the Modi government has achieved another equally rare cricketing feat of scoring two golden ducks. In cricket, a golden duck is when a batsman gets out first ball without a run to his name. The government, by the same measure, has scored not one but two golden ducks with its failure to deliver on either of its two biggest economic reforms in its first 15-months in government - the Land Bill and the GST rollout by April 2016.
The civic poll victories show that the Modi brand continues to be popular. The Lutyens’ Delhi intelligentsia might think otherwise but it seems to be living, at least for the present, in its own echo-chamber. However, the failure to deliver on the Land Bill as well as GST means time is running out for the Modi government. People are unlikely to be indefinitely patient with the government even if they believe it is the Congress that stalled the passage of the GST legislation.
Government strategists are awake to the situation as some in the party think needlessly huge political capital was invested in both bills. The Land Bill will now be pushed through the states, while the government and the party plan to take the attention away from the tax reform measure. The government will emphasise how India achieved good economic growth even without the GST, and could do meet its commitments through a series of reforms to be brought in the shape of executive decisions.
Unfortunately, the government is looking short of ideas about such executive decisions that could catch the imagination of the people and renew the promise of achhe din or better days.
Party and government strategists are also dreading a defeat in Bihar Assembly polls. Some believe the party as well as the government invested too heavily in a victory in Bihar elections. A defeat in Bihar, coupled with inability to deliver on reforms, could severely dent the Modi government's credibility for the rest of its tenure.
Then, nobody, not even within the party, will remember a 'hat trick' in some civic elections.
